Legacy
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: A different take on the manga/Ultimate epilogue. After 30 years, Alucard returns... and finds out that Integra had a child.
1. The Return

**DISCLAIMER: Hellsing belongs to Kouta Hirano.**

~ Legacy ~

Alucard had just phased into his master's bedroom and was about to creep up on her while she slept to drink her blood. He froze when the bedroom door creaked open, and a tiny Integra slipped into the room. She looked just like she had the day he'd first met her.

What the hell? Was it possible he'd traveled back in time? If so, that would mean the person in the bed must be Arthur...

As Alucard watched, the child crept slowly toward the bed, then hauled herself up and flopped down next to her parent.

"Vespera, go sleep in your own bed," growled a voice that definitely belonged to Integra Fairbook Wingates Hellsing.

Which meant... the child must be _her daughter_? Or perhaps even _granddaughter_?

"But, Mother, I had a nightmare about scary vampires trying to eat me," the child whined.

Integra let out a heavy sigh. "It was just a dream. Go back to your room."

"But what if scary vampires try to eat me?"

"I promise you are exactly as safe from vampires in your own room as you are in mine. Now go sleep in your own bed."

"You're mean. Auntie Seras would protect me from scary vampires."

"Then go crawl into Seras's coffin with her, and let me sleep!" Integra snapped.

In response, the child only whined and snuggled closer to the blanket-wrapped lump that was her mother.

Alucard was hardly an expert in parent-child relations, but he felt he could say with some degree of certainty that he'd walked into the middle of an ongoing battle, the likes of which his master would not win with only her own mediocre efforts in bending the child to her will.

And what better way to announce his return than to save the day?

Alucard slunk silently up beside the bed, and snatched the child up into his arms. The girl stared at him in stunned surprise for a moment. Then she caught sight of his teeth and screamed at the top of her lungs, and kept screaming as Alucard carried her out of the room.

In the hallway, he was met by a worried-looking Seras whose expression flashed briefly to joy upon seeing him, but almost immediately switched back to worry at the sight (and sound) of the shrieking child he was holding.

 _'Which room is hers?'_ Alucard asked telepathically.

Not bothering to respond in kind, Seras pointed to the door directly across the hall from Integra's.

He proceeded to carry the child into her own bedroom and set her down gently on the bed. Her screaming abruptly stopped when it became apparent that the _scary vampire_ 's intentions were nothing more horrifying than making her sleep in her own room. She didn't seem to know how to react as he placed a medium-sized fluffy stuffed unicorn beside her, then tucked the blankets around them both.

"Goodnight, Viscera," he said, and reached out to ruffle her hair.

The child pouted up at him, but her only response was a sullen, "Goodnight, Dad."

There wasn't much that could shock Alucard, but if there was one thing that could, then Integra's child referring to him as her father - after screaming her head off in terror only minutes before - was definitely it.

After a few long moments in which the two simply stared at one another, Alucard finally found his voice again.

"Why would you call me 'Dad'?"

 _And what happened to her real father?_ he wondered. _Her father... Integra's husband_. For some reason, he didn't like the thought of that.

"You're Alucard, right?" the child said, and continued without waiting for confirmation, "The person that Mother has been waiting for all this time, the reason she never married anyone... so that means you must be my dad."

He didn't know how to refute the childish logic because he didn't understand how she was adding those things together to come up with that conclusion. So, he settled for patting the child on the head one more time before turning to leave the room. He would need to discuss this turn of events with Integra.

"By the way," the child piped up when he was almost out of the room.

Alucard paused and looked back over his shoulder at her.

The girl slid a little farther under the covers, but continued doggedly on, "You got my name wrong earlier."

"Oh? What's the correct name, then?"

"Vespera Victoria Bernadotte Hellsing."

"Well then, goodnight Vespera Victoria Bernadotte Hellsing."

And with that, Alucard swept out of the room before the child could reply.

He returned to his master's bedroom to find Integra awake and waiting for him.

Without preamble, he said, "You have a child."

"Yes, obviously."

She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him. He allowed his gaze to rake over her in return, taking in her wizened appearance, the eyepatch, the hair that was now more white than blonde.

"Who's the father?" he asked.

She glanced away, obviously somewhat uncomfortable with the subject, but it seemed they were having this conversation whether she liked it or not, and after a few long moments, she explained, "An anonymous donor. After that... business... with Millennium was settled, even as I was rebuilding the Hellsing Organization from the ground up, I decided that I wasn't going to marry some useless husband just for the sake of having an heir. I'd convinced myself back then that I didn't want to keep passing this responsibility down the family line. When I finally came to terms with the fact that, while I still didn't need a useless husband or an heir, I _wanted_ to be a mother... I had myself artificially inseminated."

The words that she left unspoken hung heavy in the air between them.

What she had also realized back then was that there was only one person in the world who she would ever consider worthy of being her significant other or the father of her child.

~oOo~


	2. The Talk

~ Legacy ~

"So... you _would_ want a useful husband?" Alucard inquired.

Integra glared at him.

"Out of everything I just told you, _that_ is what you've chosen to focus on?"

"Well..." he said slowly. "You did mention twice that you didn't want a 'useless husband' so I take that to mean you wouldn't be entirely opposed to a _useful_ one."

"I don't want to marry anyone!" she snapped, apparently having lost patience with this line of questioning.

"Don't lie," Alucard said quietly.

He was calm. Not teasing for once, but actually trying to have a serious conversation with her.

Integra struggled to reign in her own temper.

"What do you want me to say? That I could never get married even if I wanted to, because the person that I... l-" She tripped over the word, nearly choking on it, and coughed before continuing, "- _want_ to marry is dead?"

" _Legally_ dead," Alucard said, "or _dead_ dead?"

He watched Integra's expression cycle through several disparate emotions as she struggled to formulate a reply. It seemed that she was still determined to dance around the topic, despite the fact that they were both well aware of what her real feelings were.

"You asked me what I want you to say," he said, taking a step toward her. "Admit that it's me." Another step. "That you've been waiting for me." Another. "That _I'm_ the reason you never married anyone." One more step. Now he was directly in front of her. He leaned into her personal space and whispered in her ear, "That you _love me_."

While she did not immediately deny his assertions, she also did not rush to confirm them.

After a long moment, she sighed and leaned against him, grudgingly admitting, "Yes, all of that."

As she leaned into him, Alucard slid one arm around Integra's waist, bringing the other up to wrap around her shoulders. He waited for her to continue speaking, but silence reigned once more between them. It seemed that was as much of a confession as she was willing to concede at this juncture.

"Was that really so difficult to admit?" he asked, his voice now taking on a note of mild amusement. "When it was already so obvious to _everyone_ that even your child figured it out?"

Integra pulled back from the embrace to glare at her vampire.

"Are you insulting my child's intelligence?"

" _What_ intelligence? This is the same child who screamed for three _entire_ minutes before she figured out _which_ 'scary vampire' I am."

At this pronouncement, most of the irritation disappeared from Integra's expression, to be replaced with worry.

"What exactly _did_ you do to my daughter?"

"Nothing. I just carried her to her room and tucked her into bed." After a brief pause, he added, "I also called her by the wrong name on purpose, which upset her more than I expected it would."

Integra scowled at him, and Alucard laughed. Her child had made a nearly identical expression at him when he'd misnamed her.

"Oh, and while we're on the subject of your child's name," Alucard said.

Integra huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, apparently preparing to defend her choice. Vespera was an unusual name, even less common in this modern age than it had been in past centuries.

That said, Alucard had no objection to the child's given name. It was the middle names that he was curious about.

"You named her after Seras and _Pip_?"

His tone left no doubt that he considered the former leader of the Wild Geese an inappropriate namesake.

"Yes, well, they're her devilparents, so-"

"They're WHAT?"

"Calling them 'godparents' would be blasphemy," Integra replied matter-of-factly, as if her use of an alternate term was the obvious solution to one's child having undead secondary caretakers.

Alucard wasn't sure whether he found the idea of Seras playing nanny to Integra's child hilarious or heartwarming. And on that note...

"By the way, the kid seems to have gotten into her head that I'm her father."

The flicker of guilt that momentarily crossed Integra's face - _guilt, not surprise_ \- told him that this was not a new revelation to her.

Alucard stalked forward, closing the small distance that Integra had put between them.

"I _wonder_ ," he practically purred, "wherever she might have gotten _that_ idea."

Integra tensed in anticipation, but Alucard stopped just short of actually touching her.

"Probably from the stories she's heard about you ever since she was a baby, and the fact that the closest thing she's had to a father figure in her life until this point is Seras's familiar."

Although she did not otherwise move, Integra turned her face away from her vampire in a petulant display of pique. He'd lured her into initiating their previous embrace, had made no confession of his own despite demanding one from her, and as far as she was concerned it was now _his_ turn to make his interest known.

Honestly, she didn't expect him to respond to her unspoken demand easily. But where she remained stubborn, he quickly folded. Alucard placed his hands lightly on Integra's waist as he leaned down to nuzzle her neck.

"Mmm, you smell good. Which reminds me, I haven't had anything to drink in thirty years..."

~oOo~


	3. The Morning

~ Legacy ~

The next morning, when Integra and Alucard entered the dining room at Breakfast Time For Humans™, they were promptly greeted with a cry of "Good morning, Mother!" as Integra's daughter detached herself from Seras (who she'd been clinging to) and ran over to throw her arms around Integra's waist.

"Good morning, Vespera," Integra replied. She awkwardly reached out and patted her daughter on the head. "Now go sit down at the table and eat your breakfast."

Vespera pouted and reluctantly pulled away from her mother. She was about to turn and head for the table when Alucard, who'd been trailing a few paces behind Integra, dropped to his knees and opened out his arms.

The vampire tilted his head slightly to one side and quirked an eyebrow, silently but clearly inquiring whether he was to be included in the child's morning greetings.

Vespera smiled and threw herself into his arms.

"Good morning, Dad!"

Integra nearly laughed at the shocked expression on her vampire's face when the child actually hugged him. What had he expected? To be rejected? Well, he would soon learn that her daughter was much more of a child than she herself had been at that age...

His shock wore off after a moment and Alucard gently closed his arms around the child.

"Good morning, Viscera," he said, smirking.

The child pulled away from him. Scowling, she said, "Don't be gross."

"Gross?" he repeated in a questioning tone.

Vespera's scowl deepened.

"That word means 'guts', you know. 'Internal organs, especially those of the stomach cavity.' _Guts_. So don't call me that anymore."

"Aww, did you look that up in the dictionary?" he cooed, and reached out to ruffle the child's hair.

"Alucard, stop," Integra snapped.

Still conditioned to follow her orders even after all the years they'd spent apart, the vampire immediately retracted his hand.

 _I meant stop teasing her_ , Integra added telepathically.

Alucard gave no indication that he'd heard, instead refocusing his attention on the child... who, despite her apparent anger, seemed to be on the verge of crying.

He was quickly coming to realize that no matter how much she might look like her mother had at the same age, he couldn't interact with this child in the same manner he had done with the young Integra. It seemed she hadn't inherited her mother's emotional fortitude.

At length, he conceded, "I'm sorry. I won't call you that again, Vespera."

The child was immediately all smiles again.

"It's alright, I forgive you," she said, and hugged him once more.

After that, breakfast was a rather uneventful affair. The two vampires sat at the table and sipped cold blood from coffee mugs while the humans ate.

Upon noticing that her daughter's plate was empty, Integra told her, "Go get ready for school."

"Can't I stay home today?" the child pleaded.

"No. Go get dressed."

"I don't _want_ to."

"I'm not going to tell you a third time."

Alucard observed the argument unfolding with interest. It seemed almost scripted, as thought it were something which was repeated every day with little variation.

The child pouted and remained stubbornly seated. Integra just glared at her daughter for a long moment, then returned her attention to finishing her own breakfast.

Taking that as his cue to do something about the situation, Alucard stood up, then swept Vespera up into his arms and proceeded to carry the child to her bedroom and shut her inside.

"Get dressed," he commanded from outside the door.

After a few minutes, and a lot more noise than he thought a child changing her clothes should reasonably make, the door opened and Vespera came out into the hallway, dressed in her school uniform.

The two of them went back downstairs, where Seras was waiting for them.

"Are you ready?" Seras asked with a bright smile, holding out a hand to the child.

As Vespera latched onto Seras's hand and the two of them started to make their way toward the front door, Alucard frowned. Something seemed off about this scenario.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your mother before you leave?" he called out.

"No," the child replied, turning to look back over her shoulder at the vampire.

"Why not?" he asked.

"She doesn't like it."

Alucard would have questioned her further, but Seras interrupted with, "I'm sorry, but we really have to leave now or she'll be late." As Seras shepherded the child out the door, she added telepathically, _She always does this, and she's in enough trouble with the school already for getting there late in the morning. Sir Integra doesn't want to give her any more excuses to start an argument_.

The more he got to know about her, the more it seemed that Integra's daughter was a spoiled little brat. And, while he very well understood how she might have turned out that way, he did not _like_ this revelation.

When Alucard returned to the dining room, Integra was no longer there. He found her in her office, where she was doing battle with her dreaded foe - _paperwork_.

As he entered the room, Integra said without preamble, "You can't just carry her off like that every time."

To which Alucard replied, "Why not? It worked."

~oOo~


End file.
